Jassem Alwan

Jassem Alwan
جاسم علوان
Alwan during his military trial, 1963
Personal details
Born	1928 (age 88–89) Deir ez-Zor, Syria
Nationality	Syrian
Occupation	Commander of Qatana Military Base (1958-1961)
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military service
Years of service	1946-1963
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel

Jassem Alwan (Arabic: جاسم علوان‎‎; given name also spelled Jasim) (born 1928) was a prominent colonel in the Syrian Army, particularly during the period of the United Arab Republic (UAR) (1958–1961) when he served as the Commander of the Qatana Base near Damascus. Alwan, a staunch supporter of UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser, opposed Syria's secession from the union in 1961, leading two failed coup attempts to overthrow the secessionist government in 1962.

He participated in the Baathist-led 8 March coup that toppled President Nazim al-Qudsi in 1963, but after a Baathist attempt to purge Nasserist officers from the military, Alwan led an insurrection against the new government. It failed, and resulted in Alwan's imprisonment and sentencing to death until he was released in 1964 upon the intervention of Nasser and other Arab presidents. Alwan's aborted counter-coup was a significant episode leading to the deterioration of ties between the governments of Egypt and Syria. From then on, Alwan lived in Egypt where he continued his activism against the Baathist government until he returned to Syria in 2005.

Alwan was born to a Sunni Muslim family of Bedouin origins in 1928 in the city of Deir ez-Zor, located along the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. After studying for a period at the Homs Military Academy, Alwan joined the Syrian Army in 1946. During the presidency of Adib al-Shishakli, Alwan had been teaching at the academy. According to Alwan, Shishakli had personally urged him to show preference for up and coming officers from Arab, Sunni Muslim background and to keep the number of ethnoreligious minorities in the graduating class to an "absolute minimum", a request Alwan rejected. Student officers who attended his class included prominent future military figures, such as President Hafez al-Assad, and generals Ali Aslan and Muhammad Nabhan, all of whom were Alawites. Throughout the 1950s, Alwan had been involved in the Arab nationalist movement spearheaded by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.